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Shining sumac is consistently rated fire resistant or low in flammability by extension sources across four states.
NC State and the US Fish and Wildlife Service gave it a low flammability rating, the recommended class on their four-level scale. Ohio State placed it in the low band of a five-point scale, while Virginia Tech also rated it low on a three-point scale. The University of Tennessee lists it as a Firewise plant.
The agreement has held over time as well as geography. North Carolina’s 2005 assessment was followed by another low rating in its 2025 guide. Its live Plant Toolbox also tags the plant low in flammability, using the alternate name Rhus copallinum, which is reconciled to Rhus copallina. These systems do not use identical categories, but every one places shining sumac on the recommended side.
Shining sumac is a tree in the Anacardiaceae family, reaching about 25 feet at maturity in full sun and hardy to USDA zone 5a. Ohio State also describes it as tolerant of poor conditions and adaptable to different soil acidity, while Virginia recommends it for dry, rocky sites. Taken together, the extension guidance gives a clear answer: shining sumac is a fire-resistant landscape choice.
Form
tree
Mature height
~25 ft
Light
Full sun
Rated in
Arkansas; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; NC; North Carolina +5
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Arkansas; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; NC; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US; Ohio / Midwest; Tennessee; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
Maintenance
Typed publication scope: 7 scopes across 5 cited fire sources
Maryland Forest Service says the list contains plants that can be grown in Maryland and identifies Maryland natives. FireApproved publishes 169 exact source owners from the 180 printed rows; an unrepresentable form and duplicate-owner rows are not broadened. The list calls itself non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every Maryland site.
NJ; partial normalized coverage
New Jersey DEP publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in New Jersey and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every New Jersey site or override the Pinelands Commission's separate placement and fuel-break rules.
WV; partial normalized coverage · 2026-08-26
West Virginia Division of Forestry publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in West Virginia and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and provides no comparative or site-specific rating.
The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.
Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
University of Tennessee Extension SP685 is Tennessee landscape guidance and publishes 78 represented plant owners. Most table rows are a carrier of Virginia Firescapes rather than an independent rating; Tennessee source scope does not change that lineage or establish site suitability.
Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in DC, DE, MD, NJ, OH, PA, WV.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
Only uncertain or inapplicable hardiness rows are cited; no primary zone is projected.
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
Broader regional context
Federal context
How to read this page
The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.
Plant hardiness evidence
These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA
Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value
is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping
statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.
Source prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated
Source taxon: Rhus copallina · exact match.
Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.
Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
Where its sources say to plant it
Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating.
They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.
Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 2 — 5–10 ft from the structure; maintained lawn or fuel breaks, with easily ignited evergreens avoided [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (mid-scale rating)
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: rhus-copallinum [nc-toolbox-flammability-facet] (with its recommendation)
FireWise Plants offer colorful choices for Fire Safe Gardens: Scientific name / Common name / Comments table [arkansas-firewise-table] (with its recommendation)
The evidence
Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself
(a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or
republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.
Listed as Rhus copallina (Shining Sumac). The source says listed species exhibit stronger resistance to ignition by wildfires. Source comments: Useful for dry, rocky sites
The page presents this row in its table of Firewise trees, shrubs, and groundcovers from which homeowners can choose. Printed-name correction used for exact matching: Rhus copallinum -> Rhus copallina.
